Meet the ‘Shōgun’ Season 2 Cast: Who’s New & Who’s Returning

Shōgun set the record for the most Emmy wins for a single season with its 18 awards for Season 1. Now, the celebrated FX production is returning for Season 2. A premiere date is still to be announced, but filming began in Vancouver earlier this year, and casting announcements have been trickling out. Here, we’ve compiled all of the returning and new cast members announced for Shōgun Season 2.

The only plot details currently available for Season 2 are that it is set over a decade after the events of the first season and continues the historically-inspired saga of two men from different worlds whose fates are inextricably entwined. Those two men are Lord Yoshii Toranaga, played by Hiroyuki Sanada (who won an Emmy for his Season 1 performance), and John Blackthorne, played by Cosmo Jarvis.

FX’s Shōgun is an original adaptation of James Clavell’s bestselling novel. Season 1 is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him. When a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village, its English pilot, Blackthorne, comes bearing secrets that could help Toranaga tip the scales of power and devastate the formidable influence of Blackthorne’s own enemies — the Jesuit priests and Portuguese merchants.

Toranaga’s and Blackthorne’s fates become inextricably tied to their translator, Toda Mariko (Emmy winner Anna Sawai), a mysterious Christian noblewoman and the last of a disgraced line. While serving her lord amidst this fraught political landscape, Mariko must reconcile her newfound companionship with Blackthorne, her commitment to the faith that saved her and her duty to her late father.

Mariko’s fate in Season 1 was the same as in the book, so Sawai will not be back in Season 2. But returning stars are Sanada (who also executive produces), Jarvis, Fumi Nikaidô, Shinnosuke Abe, Hiroto Kanai, Yûko Miyamoto, Yuka Kouri, Tommy Bastow, Yoriko Dôguchi, and Eita Okuno.

New cast members are Japanese singer and actor Ren Meguro (member of the nine-member boy band Snow Man), Asami Mizukawa, Masataka Kubota, Sho Kaneta, Jun Kunimura, Takaaki Enoki, Ryô Satô, newcomer Risei Kukihara, Seishiro Nishida, Mantarô Koichi, Takashi Yamaguchi, and Rick Kumazawa.

Shōgun Season 2 will air linearly on FX when it returns, in addition to streaming on Hulu. Internationally, it can be streamed on Disney+. Season 1 is currently available to stream on Hulu and Disney+ (Hulu will soon be folded into Disney+).

Spouses Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks created Shōgun, with Marks serving as showrunner. Executive producers are Kondo and Marks alongside Michaela Clavell (daughter of the late James Clavell), Edward L. McDonnell, Michael De Luca, and Sanada.

There are no details for the new characters available other than their names, but scroll through the Shōgun Season 2 cast gallery below to learn who everyone’s playing.

Shōgun, Season 2 Premiere, TBA, FX